Our recruitment of players and managers has been largely incoherent, he's clearly very capable at making money but as a quasi-director of football I think the returns on the money spent have been fairly underwhelming.

Our recruitment of players and managers has been largely incoherent, he's clearly very capable at making money but as a quasi-director of football I think the returns on the money spent have been fairly underwhelming.

Click to expand...

Tbf, Woodward sign whoever the manager wants. Not his fault that, for example, di Maria, Schneiderlin, Falcao etc turned to shit. They were hailed as excellent transfers at the time.

Tbf, Woodward sign whoever the manager wants. Not his fault that, for example, di Maria, Schneiderlin, Falcao etc turned to shit. They were hailed as excellent transfers at the time.

Click to expand...

He was the one who appointed a manager who was busy with a World Cup and whose football had peaked in the 90s and then entrusted him with transfers despite the fact that Van Gaal had never had that responsibility before. He was also the one who had no plan of who would come after Van Gaal (see the difference with City's pursuit of Guardiola) as if a manager in his mid 60s was ever going to be a long-term solution and then panicked when he realised Van Gaal had to go, having briefed the press that he was a genius 6 months earlier, and got a manager who is the complete opposite (and who arguably also peaked in a previous decade).

We've got the third most expensive squad in the history of football yet we have 2 aging, not good enough wingers playing at full back, a partnership which was promising in 2011 still regularly together at centre back, a world record signing in midfield who apparently can't thrive in our current system and a shiny new left winger in a squad that was already full of people who want to play on the left but no one on the right. That is surely in part down to having a guy in a key football role who has no background in the game and when you have a club that puts as much onus on having more social media followers than Vin Diesel as it does on having the best team and the best structure.

Away from Moyes summer (which I blame Moyes more for it), he has done a great job so far, getting the best available manager and giving him all the signings he wants. His way in doing the deals are way better than Gill and I'm pretty sure deals like Lukaku,Pogba and Sanchez would have never been done under Gill. Ed has no problem paying whatever needed either to clubs or agents to get the deal done, something Gill lacked in his last years and costed us heavily after SAF retired.

Hopefully we start winning some big trophies so that We gets the credit he deserves.

He's definitely improved a lot since his earlier days after Fergie and Gill left. Always seems to be working too, apart from when we were meant to sign either Thiago or Fabregas I think but how much of that was rumours we don't know. He's doing a good job but might be good if he can have someone work alongside him to deal with the football matters and let him focus on business.
He's probably due another sponsor lined up for us, maybe a toilet paper or sauce for the canteen.
It's good he realizes that to be one of the best teams you have to invest a lot more money these days so isn't shy to back managers big signings or contracts.

Ed is fine. Of course he will make mistakes, who hasn't. But, we know he is extremely intelligent, so we should expect to learn from them and become even better. I like him, he seems a down to earth guy who goes about his business and I am sure he expects to be judged by what he has achieved in his position.

He was the one who appointed a manager who was busy with a World Cup and whose football had peaked in the 90s and then entrusted him with transfers despite the fact that Van Gaal had never had that responsibility before. He was also the one who had no plan of who would come after Van Gaal (see the difference with City's pursuit of Guardiola) as if a manager in his mid 60s was ever going to be a long-term solution and then panicked when he realised Van Gaal had to go, having briefed the press that he was a genius 6 months earlier, and got a manager who is the complete opposite (and who arguably also peaked in a previous decade).

We've got the third most expensive squad in the history of football yet we have 2 aging, not good enough wingers playing at full back, a partnership which was promising in 2011 still regularly together at centre back, a world record signing in midfield who apparently can't thrive in our current system and a shiny new left winger in a squad that was already full of people who want to play on the left but no one on the right. That is surely in part down to having a guy in a key football role who has no background in the game and when you have a club that puts as much onus on having more social media followers than Vin Diesel as it does on having the best team and the best structure.

Click to expand...

So you're berating a corporate guy for trusting football matters onto football guys?

He's done very well, not underspending, not overspending. And of course it was very difficult after Gill with Sir Alex to adjust to a a new role, who wouldn't struggle after the departure of SAF and Gill who were so important in their roles for the team for so long and left the squad not in the very best shape. It takes time to adjust to a new job and in a club this big it coutns twice in that period of time.

And of course everyone makes mistakes too, but financially we are growing immensely and not a fault of Woodward when managers wanted ROnaldo or Bale who were simply not gettable. I like Woodward more than Gill tbh, he's doing his best in his role and not at fault that his managers couldn't bring more success in his first few years in the role.

Woody get too much flack on this forum for being a guy who has done an excellent job. He has grown the commercial side of things to where we are the largest in the world, and set the stage so the recruitment of elite talent (both youth and first team) will be outstanding once the results come.

He was the one who appointed a manager who was busy with a World Cup and whose football had peaked in the 90s and then entrusted him with transfers despite the fact that Van Gaal had never had that responsibility before. He was also the one who had no plan of who would come after Van Gaal (see the difference with City's pursuit of Guardiola) as if a manager in his mid 60s was ever going to be a long-term solution and then panicked when he realised Van Gaal had to go, having briefed the press that he was a genius 6 months earlier, and got a manager who is the complete opposite (and who arguably also peaked in a previous decade).

We've got the third most expensive squad in the history of football yet we have 2 aging, not good enough wingers playing at full back, a partnership which was promising in 2011 still regularly together at centre back, a world record signing in midfield who apparently can't thrive in our current system and a shiny new left winger in a squad that was already full of people who want to play on the left but no one on the right. That is surely in part down to having a guy in a key football role who has no background in the game and when you have a club that puts as much onus on having more social media followers than Vin Diesel as it does on having the best team and the best structure.

Click to expand...

The LVG signing was heavily praised at the time. He was a proven trophy winner (overrated factor but he was), he had also shown his tactical nous in the WC including the 5-1 demolition of Spain and subbing on the matchwinning keeper before the penalty shootout.

To make matters better he played continental football that would modernise us and was heavily endorsed by our then best player, Robin van Persie. Proven trophy record, Tactical nous, modern attractive football, player respect, he was the Moyes anti-Christ.

All of these ended up amounting to feckall but that only came in hindsight. United fans were mostly convinced the club made the right decision. Letting him buy his players to implement his football was an obvious decision at the time

Woody is doing a solid job, a lot better than before. The good thing is he's very ambitious. For a club like us, with the big plan to be back as the best football team, his and club's intentions are aligned.

He is on a hockey learning curve. Fakked up during the Moyes years but has steadily improved.

One thing is that when you compare ourselves with Arsenal and Liverpool the other self-sustaining global clubs, we are miles ahead-- and we are in a position of competing with the likes of PSG, City, Barca and RM in term of finances globally. We are still fighting a good fight -- all without some financial-steroid boost.

He was the one who appointed a manager who was busy with a World Cup and whose football had peaked in the 90s and then entrusted him with transfers despite the fact that Van Gaal had never had that responsibility before. He was also the one who had no plan of who would come after Van Gaal (see the difference with City's pursuit of Guardiola) as if a manager in his mid 60s was ever going to be a long-term solution and then panicked when he realised Van Gaal had to go, having briefed the press that he was a genius 6 months earlier, and got a manager who is the complete opposite (and who arguably also peaked in a previous decade).

We've got the third most expensive squad in the history of football yet we have 2 aging, not good enough wingers playing at full back, a partnership which was promising in 2011 still regularly together at centre back, a world record signing in midfield who apparently can't thrive in our current system and a shiny new left winger in a squad that was already full of people who want to play on the left but no one on the right. That is surely in part down to having a guy in a key football role who has no background in the game and when you have a club that puts as much onus on having more social media followers than Vin Diesel as it does on having the best team and the best structure.

Our recruitment of players and managers has been largely incoherent, he's clearly very capable at making money but as a quasi-director of football I think the returns on the money spent have been fairly underwhelming.

Click to expand...

To be fair to him, all he can sign is what the manager request him to. All Mourinho’s buys (jurys still out on Lindelöf) have worked out well, both of Moyes buys have proven useful to different extents, while ok LVG did have a few duds but we recouped most of the money spent on them and the others have been useful for us to some extent.

To be fair to him, all he can sign is what the manager request him to. All Mourinho’s buys (jurys still out on Lindelöf) have worked out well, both of Moyes buys have proven useful to different extents, while ok LVG did have a few duds but we recouped most of the money spent on them and the others have been useful for us to some extent.

Click to expand...

Still can’t believe they managed to get decent money for Memphis and Schneiderlin.